One of the leading flex office providers in CEE expects to see drastic changes in the office market during the coming years. Property Forum talked to Hubert Abt, CEO of New Work about the drivers of the rapidly evolving world of workplaces.

In line with the growing popularity of flexible and hybrid work models, many companies are relocating, changing size and trying to re-fitting their offices. This could be one of the reasons why Prague placed second in the CEE region in terms of the price of fitting out an office. Nevertheless, the key reasons are the tightening supply chain and challenges around labour, which are set to continue well in 2022 and beyond. The average costs per sqm in Prague are currently €1,037, which is half of what it is in top German cities or in the UK where the median cost exceeded €2,000, Cushman & Wakefield presents in their report.

Less than a year before completion, developer J&T Real Estate CZ is selling its Red Court office centre in Prague's Karlín district. BlackBird Real Estate will become the new owner immediately after approval, the online daily Seznamzpravy.cz reported about the transaction.

According to Walter Herz, the beginning of the year brought a revival in demand for offices. Katowice now has a larger offer than Poznań and rental rates for the best space in Warsaw have increased.

Carbon Tower in Wrocław, Ocean Office Park A and Tischnera Office in Kraków – this is a real estate package that is to be acquired by an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. The buildings, belonging to Cavatina Holding, one of Poland's largest office developers, offer a total of nearly 66 thousand sqm of GLA, and their average lease rate is at the level of approx. 90%. The planned buy/sell deal is another portfolio transaction of Cavatina Group, which in 2020 sold three Equal Business Park office buildings (A, B and C).

Savills has opened an office in Tricity led by Piotr Skuza. The Savills Gdańsk office will deliver advisory services to tenants, investors and landlords of office, retail, industrial and warehouse properties and the PRS sector. Savills experts will provide assistance in office and warehouse lease transactions, property and land acquisition, as well as technical advisory and property management.

A part of the Prague-based residential project Hagibor, which is being built by Crestyl Group, is now owned by Invesco Real Estate. The acquisition concerns the third phase of the residential part of the project, namely the Delta building, which is already under construction and is to be used for rental housing in the future. The price of the transaction, which was reported by the daily E15, was not published.

It's been a good, strong start to 2022 in Poland's office market, which offers hope that a long-awaited boom in demand is coming after a market slump. Companies have adapted to the new working conditions, and due to the easing of restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic, they have launched a campaign to encourage employees back into offices. On the other hand, Warsaw and the eight largest regional markets, i.e., Kraków, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, and Lublin, may face a slowdown in new supply in the coming months. AXI IMMO looks at the current trends after Q1 2022 in the office market and analyses what will influence its development in the following months of the year.

EPP has finalised the sale of its 70% stake in the Towarowa 22 mixed-use project in Warsaw to AFI Europe. It is historically one of the largest land transactions in Poland in terms of value, with the total plot value exceeding €180 million.

New office supply in regional cities in Poland hit a record high of 243,500 sqm in Q1 2022, representing an uplift of 5% on the previous peak in Q4 2019, reveals Savills. More new office space was delivered in the first three months of this year alone than in the whole of 2021.